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Ufl 361 
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Copy 1 



BULLETIN of the 

Imii^raitg of f>0utl| darnltna 

Country Scnool Movements 
ana Ideals m South Carolina 



BY 



W. K. TATE 

State Supervisor of Elementary Rural Schools 



Reprinted from the Forcy-Fiftt Annual Report of the State Superin- 
tendent of Education. 1913. (Pages 41-61) 



ISSUED QUARTERLY 
BY THE UNIVERSITY 



No. 36 

Part II 

January, 1914 



COLUMBIA. S. C. 

Second-Class Mail Matter 




Wonograph 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Statement of Activities 5 

Field Work 6 

Office Work 7 

Teaching 8 

Miscellaneous Activities 9 

II. Rural School Progress 10 

State One-Mill Tax 10 

Special District Taxes 11 

The Rural Graded School 11 

School Buildings 12 

Progress in Supervision 12 

Salary of County Superintendents 12 

Supervising Teachers for Country Schools 14 

Consolidation 15 

Conveyance of Children 16 

The County Fair and Field Day 16 

Agricultural Work 17 

Manual Training, Domestic Science and Household 

Arts 17 

County Teachers' Associations 18 

III. Recommendations 18 

IV. A Suggested Organization of the State and County 
Departments of Education for the Better Adminis- 
tration or Supervision of the Rural Schools 23 



Country Sckool Movements 
and Ideals 



IN 



South Caroli 



ma 




BY 

W. K. Tate 

State Supervisor Elementary Rural Schools 



1914 

Tht State Company, Printers 
Columbia, S, C, 



J3 






^ Report of the State Supervisor of Elementary 

Rural Schools. 



^ 



To the /State Superintendent and /State Board of Education. 

Gentlemen: June 30th completed the third year of my Avork 
us State Supervisor of Rural Schools. The fact that my position 
is a comparatively new one in South Carolina and that there are 
still many people in the State who may wish to know the scope of 
its activities induces me to describe somewhat in detail the 
methods of work which have been pursued during the year. 

Mj office has little to do with statistics or fiscal statements con- 
cerning the rural schools. These are found in the general report 
of the State Superintendent of Education. It is not possible to 
state with any exactness the tangible results of the work which 
has been undertaken. There are many forces now co-operating 
for the upbuilding of the country school in South Carolina. It is 
the privilege of the State Supervisor of Rural Schools to work 
as one of these forces. It is impossible to tabulate the results 
accomplished in any one year, to forecast the ultimate harvest 
of our united labors, or to say who is responsible for any special 
achievement. We are all workers together for the common good. 

I. 

STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES. 

Number counties visited 34 

Number days spent with County Superintendents 60 

Number days spent wnth Rural Supervising Teachers .... 8 

Number community meetings attended 60 

Number local tax movements aided 50 

Number consolidation movements assisted 36 

Number new buildings stimulated 25 

Number meetings with trustees 25 

Number schools visited 90 

Number meetings with teachers 10 

Number articles for newspapers 40 

Number public addresses 85 

Number illustrated lectures 45 

Number circular letters sent out 500 



6 

Number pamphlets mailed 10,500 

Miles travelled by rail, approximately 15,000 

Miles travelled by other conveyances, approximately 1,200 

FIELD WORK. 

During the year the State Supervisor has visited the follow- 
ing counties: Abbeville, Aiken, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, 
Beaufort, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chester, Chesterfield, Colleton, 
Darlington, Dorchester, Fairfield, Georgetown, Greenville, Green- 
wood, Horry, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lee, Lexington, 
Marion, Newberry, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland, 
Saluda, Spartanburg, Sumter, Williamsburg. York. These visits 
have usually been made at the request of the County Superin- 
tendents of Education, the County Teachers' Associations, o'r 
the local school boards and teachers. The Supervisor has been 
compelled to decline three or four times as many invitations as 
he has accepted. Whenever it has been possible, the visits among 
the schools of the county have been made in company with the 
County Superintendent of Education or with the Rural Super- 
vising Teacher. On the more extended visits the County Super- 
intendent has usually planned the itinerary to include typical 
schools in his county, especially thosie in which he wished to 
accomplish some definite improvement, such as, the voting of a 
special tax, the erection of a new building, a consolidation, the 
establishment of a rural graded school, or the settlement of com- 
munity differences. 

The State Supervisor has continued the method of "demonstra- 
tions in supervision" with the County Superintendent and the 
County Supervising Teacher as the most fruitful line of effort, 
since it is through these officials that any plans which he may 
have in mind must be carried to the school and the teacher. The 
work with the County Superintendent usually includes a visit to 
two or three schools each daj^, work with the teacher, confer- 
ence with the Superintendent en route, a community meeting and 
illustrated lecture at night, and a general meeting of the county 
trustees and teachers on Saturday. At the Saturday meeting 
the Supervisor discusses the conditions which he has found on 
his visits among the schools and suggests plans for improvement. 
A summary of his observations and recommendations is usually 
addressed to the County Superintendent of Education and is also 
sent to the newspapers of the county for general information. 



I 



OFFICE WORK. 

The office work of the State Supervisor is steadily increasing 
in volume. This includes: 

1. Correspondence with County Superintendents and Super- 
vising Teachers with reference to plans and methods of work. 

2. Each County Superintendent and Supervising Teacher has 
been asked to send to the office of the State Supervisor copies of 
plans of work, circular letters to teachers and trustees, Field Day 
programs and any other material showing special lines of effort, 
and these are distributed by the State Supervisor to all other 
Superintendents and Supervisors. 

3. From the State Supervisor's office last year were distributed 
to the district trustees of the State 8,000 copies of his annual 
report containing suggestions on supervision of rural schools; 
2,500 copies of other circulars and pamphlets issued by the State 
Department of Education, by the United States Government, by 
Clemson College, Winthrop College, and the University of South 
Carolina have been distributed among the teachers and school 
officers of the State. 

4. The office has distributed among the schools of the State 
on request of the County Superintendent or the Supervising 
Teacher a large number of United States maps furnished through 
the courtesy of Senator Tillman, Senator Smith, and our Repre- 
sentatives in Congress. 

5. There is a steadily increasing volume of correspondence 
with trustees and County Superintendents who desire to secure 
teachers. The recommendation of teachers is confined to those 
whose work the Supervisor has had an opportunity to know. 

6. There is also a voluminous correspondence with teachers, 
especially with those whose schools have been visited, with refer- 
ence to the various questions arising in the school work. The 
Rural Graded School Act and the establishment of schools under 
its provisions have greatly increased the volume of this corre- 
spondence. 

7. Correspondence with trustees and County Superintendents 
relative to proposed building plans. 

8. Miscellaneous corespondence, including every phase of edu- 
cational work. 

9. During the year newspaper articles have been prepared and 
distributed to the State and county papers. A special expression 
of appreciation is due the newspapers for the generous space and 



hearty support which they have given the rural school work. 
Largely through this instrumentality the best thought of all the 
workers and the successful experience of all of the schools of the 
State have become our common property. 

TEACHING. 

In the University: 

During the year the State Supervisor offered a course at the 
University consisting of one lecture per week entitled, "A Study 
of Social and Educational Conditions in South Carolina." The 
aim of this course of lectures was to give the students of the 
University a comprehensive idea of their State and to help them 
arrive at a solution for the educational and social problems which 
will confront them both as teachers and civic leaders. An idea 
of the course may be obtained by noting the topics upon which 
themes were submitted by the young men who participated in the 
course : 

1. ''The Prevalence and the Effects of Tenantry in South 

Carolina." 

2. "The Causes of Tenantry in South Carolina. Proposed 

Remedies." 

3. "Race Problems in the Economic and Educational Life of 

South Carolina." 

4. "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Race Segregation 

in the Country. Present Tendencies in South Carolina." 

5. "The Proper Education for the Negro in South Carolina." 

6. "The Causes of Race Prejudice in South Carolina." 

7. "The Water-Power of South Carolina. How may it be 

Used to Advance the Economic and Social Condition of 
our People?" 

8. "Prevalent Methods of Securing Farm Credit in South 

Carolina. Effects on Prosperity of the Farmer and of the 
State." 

9. "The Problems of the Cotton Mill Village in South Caro- 

lina." 

10. "Social and Educational Work in Mill Villages." 

11. "The Possibilities of the Rural School as the Center of 

Community Life." 

12. "The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Ungraded 

Country School." 



9 

13. "The Possibilities of the Country Church as a Center of 

Community Life." 

14. "Forces and Movements for Improvement of Rural Life in 

South Carolina." 

15. "How Shall We Secure a Greater Respect for Law in South 

Carolina?" 

16. "What are the Amusements and Recreations of the Young 

People in the Country in South Carolina? How Could 
These Be Made more Satisfying?" 

17. "The Causes of Political Bitterness in South Carolina. 

Suggested Remedies." 

18. "An Ideally Organized Country Community." 

In Winthrop College: 

A course of lectures on Rural School Conditions was also given 
to the Senior Class at Winthrop College during the closing weeks 
of the school year. The presentation of the country school as a 
field of service to the young men and young women in our col- 
leges results in an increased number of college graduates in the 
country schools. 

In the Summer School: 

During the past summer the State Supervisor offered two 
courses in the Summer School at Winthrop College. These courses 
related directly to the work of the country school and enrolled 
more than 100 country teachers. During the Summer School a 
special conference of the County Superintendents was held for the 
discussion of plans of work for the year. The Summer School 
also offered an excellent opportunity for personal conferences 
with 400 country teachers. 

MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES. 

The work of the Rural School Supervisor touches in one way 
or another every phase of the social and economic life of South 
Carolina. The Supervisor has, therefore, availed himself freely 
of every opportunity to co-operate with the constructive forces of 
the State. It was a special pleasure during the summer to work 
with a large group of patriotic men and women in a Conference 
for the Common Good, which held its sessions in Columbia on 
August 6th and 7th. This Conference was attended by 400 peo- 



10 



pie Avho discussed together the vital and fundamental questions 
on which the permanent welfare of the State depends. 

A STUDY OF THE SWISS SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

Last fall the State Supervisor accepted a special commission 
from the United States Commissioner of Education to visit and 
study the schools of Switzerland and to report on any phases of 
the Swiss system which might offer helpful suggestions to the 
United States. This report entitled, "Some Suggestive Features 
of the SavIss School System," is now in the hands of the United 
States Commissioner of Education and will shortly be issued by 
the bureau for distribution. 



II. 
EUKAL SCHOOL PROGRESS. 

The most important fact in rural school progress in recent 
years is the fact that the whole State is coming to realize the 
significance of the rural school as a factor in the general pros- 
perity. Even the Chambers of Commerce and the Bankers' Asso- 
ciations in the cities of the United States and of South Carolina 
have, during the past year, devoted considerable attention to a 
discussion of the country school and its needs. This attitude of 
friendly interest and co-operation is being reflected in educational 
legislation. 

INCREASED FUNDS FOR MAINTENANCE. 

State 1-Mill Tax: 

The most significant educational Act of the legislative session 
of 1913 was that levying the 1-mill State tax for the maintenance 
of the public schools. This Act is a tardy recognition of the 
responsibility of the whole State for the education of all the chil- 
dren. Through the operations of this Act, those counties and 
sections more favorably situated, and in which the corporate and 
private wealth of the State is largely concentrated, may con- 
tribute something to the support of the schools in the poorer sec- 
tions from whose development they must look for future growth 
and prosperity. It is to be regretted that a modification of the 
measure made in the rush of the closing days of the session 
diverted half of the fund from its original purposes and trans- 



11 

formed it into a county tax. Every well-wisher of the country 
schools in the poorer counties will look to the coming session of 
the Legislature to remedy this defect in the measure. 

SPECIAL DISTRICT TAXES. 

The movement on the part of school districts to levy special 
taxes to supplement the regular school fund continues unabated. 
Of the 1,934 districts in South Carolina, 1,212 now levy special 
taxes. During the year 250 districts have either made a new levy 
or increased a levy already in force. This movement has been 
greatly stimulated by the Term Extension Act and the Rural 
Graded School Act. In the counties of Dorchester, Darlington 
and Dillon every district now levies a special tax. The receipts 
from special taxes shown in the following comparative table 
shows the strength of the movement : 

Receipts from Special Tax. 

1900 $112,254 07 

1905 236,109 21 

1909 462,820 09 

1910 494,666 05 

1911 574,450 87 

1912 687,628 80 

■ 1913 842,322 44 

THE RURAL GRADED SCHOOL. 

When the Legislature two years ago passed the Rural Graded 
School Act, few comprehended its real significance for the coun- 
try school. During the scholastic ^''ear closing June 30th, 130 
districts had voted the required 4-mill special tax and had com- 
plied with the other requirements for recognition under this law. 
The success of this law is another justification of the legislative 
policy which offers the assistance of the State to communities 
which are willing to help themselves in securing better school 
facilities. There is now no needy school district which is Avithout 
the stimulus of a State appropriation in accordance with this 
principle. The High School Act gives State aid to high schools 
in the small towns and country communities where limited 
resources would render it difficult to maintain high school courses. 
The Term Extension Act enables a poor district with a small 



12 

school to receive as much as $100 from the State with which to 
increase the teacher's salary and extend the school term. The 
Rural Graded School Act is adapted to a country community 
thickly populated with white people and with a school enrollment 
which makes necessary the employment of two or more teachers. 

SCHOOL BIULDINGS. 

The failure of the last Legislature through inadvertence to 
renew the State Building Appropriation has seriously crippled 
the building operations of the year. In spite of this handicap 
many new buildings have been erected and most of these have 
been built in accordance with the State plans or designs furnished 
by competent architects. One of the strongest features in the 
Building Act is the fact that the small State contribution to the 
district building fund insures the examination of the plans by 
a competent authority and the avoidance of the serious errors into 
which country carpenters and building committees are prone to 
fall. I desire again to express my appreciation of the services 
of Clemson College in furnishing plans and specifications for 
school buildings to country communities. 

PEOGRESS IN SUPERVISION. 

It is a source of gratification to all friends of the rural schools 
that most of our counties are showing a disposition to pay an 
annual salary to the County Superintendent which will enable 
him to give all his time to the duties of this office. Several of the 
County Superintendents who receive beggarly salaries are never- 
theless putting into their work an earnestness and enthusiasm 
which should demand recognition by their constituents. 

The progress which has been made and the necessity for further 
improvement may be seen from the following comparative state- 
ment : 

Salary of County Superintendents. 

County. 1907. 1913. 

Abbeville $700 $700 

Aiken 700 1,200 

Anderson 900 900 

Bamberg 5 5 

Barnwell 800 1,200 



13 

County. 1907. 1913 

Beaufort 400 600 

Berkeley 400 600 

Calhoun 900 

Charleston 1^000 1,500 

Cherokee 600 850 

Chester 600 750 

Chesterfield 500 1,000 

Clarendon 625 1^200 

Colleton 500 'eoo 

Darlington 800 1,500 

Dorchester 45O 800 

Dillon 800 

Edgefield 600 700 

Fairfield 500 550 

Florence 900 1,800 

Georgetown 700 900 

Greenville 700 900 

Greenwood 600 900 

Hampton 550 700 

Horry 400 800 

Jasper 400 

Kershaw 700 1,200 

Lancaster 600 600 

Laurens 750 750 

Lee 600 1,200 

Lexington 600 800 

Marion 800 800 

Marlboro 700 700 

Newberry 800 900 

Oconee 700 700 

Orangeburg 850 . 1,000 

Pickens 700 900 

Richland 1,200 1,500 

Saluda 450 550 

Spartanburg 1,200 1,200 

Sumter 900 1,200 

Union 500 900 

Williamsburg 600 1,000 

York 800 900 



14 

The Auditor of Bamberg County is ex-officio County Superin- 
tendent of Education. Omitting this county from the list, the 
average salary in 1907 was $684.37>^ ; in 1913 it is $919.75. 

SUPEEVISING TEACHEES FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 

During the past year the following counties have employed 
supervising teachers for country schools to assist the County 
Superintendent : 

Aiken Miss Mary Eva Hite 

Calhoun Miss Madeline Spigener 

Colleton Miss Georgia Ackerman 

Darlington Miss Elizabeth Dickson 

Dorchester .Miss Caroline L. Dickinson 

Horry Miss Lettie Harrelson 

Laurens Miss Wil Lou Gray 

Lexington Miss Ethel Dreher 

Marlboro Miss Lizzie Rogers 

Newberry Miss Elizabeth Hawkins 

York Miss Leila Russell 

For the coming year the following counties have been added 
to this list : 

Anderson Miss Maggie Garlington 

Dillon Mrs. J. N. Hargrove 

Greenville Miss Bruce Hough 

Kershaw Miss Kate Simpson 

Newberry Miss Sadie Goggans 

Oconee Miss Annie McMahan 

Sumter Miss Mary Lemmon 

Williamsburg '. Miss Mamie McLees 

Chesterfield Miss Alexina Evans 

We were fortunate enough to secure $2,500 from the Peabody 
Fund and have assisted ten counties to pay the expense of this 
additional supervision. The results which have attended the 
work of the Supervising Teachers have amply justified the small 
expenditure for their services. With the final distribution of the 
Peabody Fund the State should make an appropriation to stimu- 
late this work. The County Supervising Teacher spends her time 
in the field going from school to school, helping the teachers in 
the organization of their schools and in the methods of teaching 



15 



the school subjects. As a part of her work, she organizes the 
parents and children into School Improvement Associations and 
suggests manual training suited to the community. In several 
counties the Supervising Teacher is also the organizer of the 
Girls' Canning Club. 



CONSOLIDATION. 

The County Superintendents have reported the following con- 
solidations during the year: 



Schools 
County. Consolidated. 

Aiken 2 

Anderson 3 

Barnwell 2 

Calhoun 2 

Cherokee 2 

Darlington 9 

Dillon 2 

Florence 2 

Georgetown 3 

Greenville 4 

Hampton 7 

Horry 2 

Jasper 3 

Kershaw 4 

Laurens 2 

Marlboro 5 

Orangeburg 2 

Richland 7 

Sumter 2 

Williamsburg 2 

York 8 



Schools Discontinued 
on Account 
of Consolidation. 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
5 
1 
1 
2 
2 
5 
1 
2 
2 
1 
2 
1 
4 
1 
1 
5 



It is the policy of the State Supervisor not to force a consoli- 
dation. The people are awakening to the advantages of the larger 
school and the process will proceed slowly but surely. There are 
many schools in the State containing less than ten children which 
are in easy reach of larger schools. Short-sighted trustees some- 
times insist on maintaining these schools at great expense for 



16 

selfish reasons. We need a law authorizing a County Board of 
Education to close a school which enrolls fewer than ten pupils 
when the board provides transportation to another school for all 
children living more than two and a half miles from this school. 

CONVEYANCE OF CHILDEEN. 

There is a slow but steady increase in the number of school 
wagons used in conveying children to school. The status at the 
close of the year was as follows: 

Number Districts 
County. Using Wagons. 

Aiken 2 

Barnwell 1 

Beaufort 1 

Calhoun 1 

Charleston 2 

Clarendon 1 

Darlington 1 

Dorchester 2 

Fairfield 1 

Georgetown 1 

Hampton 1 

Kershaw 2 

Newberry 2 

Orangeburg 2 

Richland 3 

Sumter 5 

Union 1 

York 1 

30 45 685 

The Supervisor does not recommend a wagon route longer than 
five miles. Trustees should have a care to the comfort of the 
wagons. Some of our wagons are poorly adapted to their pur- 
pose. 

THE COUNTY FAIR AND FIELD DAY. 

During the past year 25 counties in South Carolina conducted 
a successful County School Fair and Field Day. This co-opera- 



Number 


Children 


Wagons. 


Conveyed. 


2 


24 


1 


8 


3 


27 


1 


12 


3 


17 


3 


25 


1 


17 


2 


25 


1 


12 


1 


16 


3 


50 


2 


40 


2 


7 


2 


47 


8 


155 


7 


133 


1 


15 


2 


55 



17 

tive enterprise, organized by the County Superintendent and 
teachers, has resulted in welding the country schools into a better 
organized system, and in stimulating the boys and girls to in- 
creased effort in the school work, as well as in manual training, 
cooking, sewing, and athletic exercises. During the coming yeaT 
other counties will take up this form of work. 

AGRICULTURAL WORK. 

During the past year the schools have continued a hearty co- 
operation with the Corn Clubs and Canning Clubs. The support 
of the teacher is necessary to the success of these organizations. 
The trustees and teachers have entered heartily into the plan insti- 
tuted by State Director W. W. Long to establish at five schools in 
each county a three- acre demonstration plot to test the effects of 
crop rotation. The whole country is watching this experiment 
with interest. 



MANUAL TRAINING, DOMESTIC SCIENCE, AND 
HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 

There is evident and increasing interest in manual training, 
domestic science, and household arts. Several schools have intro- 
duced cooking and elementary manual training into the course of 
study. The workroom, which forms a part of all the State build- 
ing plans, is a constant suggestion in this direction. The County 
School Fairs have also proved an effective stimulus to home work 
in manual training and domestic arts under the supervision of the 
schools. "The Homekeepers' Club Bulletin," which has just been 
issued by Miss Mary E. Frayser of Winthrop College will be of 
great assistance in directing this work. Even more significant is 
the tendency of the country school to give country activities a 
more important place in the school program. An increasing 
number of teachers are using the farm arithmetic, studying home 
geography, and making the occupations of the country the basis 
for their work in the common school subjects. The iFarm Life 
School at Winthrop College, which is endeavoring to devise a 
course of study based on country activities, has attracted the atten- 
tion of the nation. 



18 

COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS. 

During the year most of the counties have held regular meet- 
ings of the County Teachers' Associations. The increased attend- 
ance at these association meetings is an indication of a stronger 
professional spirit in the teaching corps. Several counties have 
also held County Institutes for two or three days at the opening 
of the schools in the fall. 

III. 
EECOMMENDATIONS. 

My reports for the last three years contain several recom- 
mendations which I should iike to reiterate. 

I. That the 1-mill State tax be made permanent, and that it 
be used for the following purposes under the provisions of the 
Law and the Regulations of the State Board of Education ac- 
cording to a schedule of apportionment similar to the following : 

1. Term Extension Act 20% 

2. Rural Graded School Act 20% 

3. High School Act 20% 

4. Building Fund 15% 

5 Contingent Fund to be expended by the County Super- 
intendents under the regulations of the State Board 

of Education for especially needy rural districts..., 15% 

(5. Libraries 1 % 

7. Rural School Improvement Associations for prizes.... 1% 

8. State Board of Examiners 2% 

9. To stimulate industrial courses 3% 

10. To encourage teacher-training in high schools 3% 

100% 
The following are my reasons for this recommendation: 
1. Such an Act would establish and declare a State educational 
policy. The education of a child extends through a period of 
years. The building of a school system is a continuing process. 
An appropriation for a single year will not enable State and 
county authorities to make their plans with any assurance of 
their consummation. In the hurry of the last legislative day an 
item may be inadvertently omitted from the appropriation bill, 
and all our plans set at naught. We have a shining example of 
this in the fate of the Building Appropriation last year. This 



19 

Act and appropriation had been for three years one of the most 
powerful forces for the improvement of the rural schools. The 
people were becoming generally acquainted with its provisions. 
The Rural School Supervisor and the County Superintendents 
had confidently promised its aid to country trustees, and through 
these promises sixty or more schoolhouses were in process of erec- 
tion. As far as the writer could learn, there was no opposition to 
this appropriation in the House. A fight was made in the Senate 
on the one-mill tax which was to provide for this appropriation. 
The half mill left for State purposes was not sufficient to cover 
this item, there was no time to put it in the general appropriation 
bill, and as a result many school districts are sorely embarrassed, 
and many people have lost confidence in the stability of our edu- 
cational policies. 

2. The whole tax should be directed to State purposes. To 
retain half of it in the respective counties merely increases the 
disparities which the original measure sought to relieve. Some 
of the counties need this additional fund, others do not. Why 
should Aiken or Charleston County be compelled to levy an addi- 
tional county tax which they do not need? The policies already 
adopted by the Legislature will demand for their continuance 
practically the entire proceeds of a one-mill tax. 

3. The announcement of a policy, and the fixing of the per- 
centage to be devoted to each purpose, would automatically de- 
termine the special appropriations, fix a limit to demands, and 
enable the State Department of Education to formulate rules of 
apportionment which would bring the expenditures within the 
appropriation. Any unexpended balance from any item should 
become a part of the Contingent Fund designated under item 5. 

4. The Proposed Items: 

Items J, 2, 2, 4i and 6 are already contemplated under the stat- 
utes now in force, and the amounts indicated will be necessary 
to carry out laws which have already been passed. These will re- 
quire 77 per cent, of the total tax. 

Item 5. Contingent Fund for Especially Needy Country 
/Schools : 

While items 1, 2, 3, and 4 are ordinarily sufficient to stimulate 
self-help and meet the needs of every type of school, it is impossi- 



20 

ble to devise a law which will fit every case, and it is sometimes 
advisable to extend special assistance to a district which is espe- 
cially weak or burdened. There are districts in South Carolina 
where a special tax of 2 mills will produce less than $20. After 
such a district has exhausted the resources of the law in self-help, 
it may be necessary to render additional assistance to insure an 
efficient school. 

IteTTh 8. /State Board of Examiners : 

This item contemplates the passage of a bill introduced by 
Senator Nicholson, of Edgefield, and now on the Legislative Cal- 
endar. The necessity for the State Board of Examiners was dis- 
cussed at length in my report of 1911. Such a 5oard is justified 
by every argument which has already prevailed in the appoint- 
ment of a State Board of Examiners for physicians, dentists, and 
lawyers. The examination questions for teachers' certificates are 
now prepared by the State Board of Education, who have no op- 
portunity to see the answers, and the papers are graded by 44 
different County Boards, each with a different standard. As the 
result, the conditions, especially in the country, are chaotic. The 
city superintendent can usually get college graduates for his 
teaching force, or can, at least, make a searching investigation of 
the candidate's record. The country trustee has limited facilities 
for investigation. He should at least be able to rely on the at- 
tainment of scholarship indicated by the certificate. The chief 
opponents of the measure are those who fear that the presence of 
an official roster of the qualified teachers of the State in the office 
of the Examining Board will make possible a non-commercial 
medium of communication between teachers and school boards. 

Item p. To StiTYhulate Manual^ Vocational^ and Industrial 
Courses : 

The educational world is in substantial agreement as to the 
desirability of manual training, domestic science, and introduc- 
tory forms of vocational work in the school. The concrete con- 
tent of these courses retains in school many a pupil who is re- 
pelled by the more abstract work. These courses dignify labor, 
reveal to the boy or girl capacities which might otherwise remain 
undiscovered, bring about closer co-operation between home and 
school, and tend to a better adaptation of the whole course of 
study to the special community needs. Large appropriations are 



21 

not necessary to secure substantial results. The Province of On- 
tario, in Canada, has established hundreds of school gardens and 
experiment plots in country schools by a grant of $30 per year to 
each school board which would maintain a garden, and $30 addi- 
tional salary to the teacher in such a school who, through a spe- 
cial course, would secure a certificate of fitness to teach elementary 
agriculture. The writer found hundreds of industrial and voca- 
tional courses in the Swiss schools, which were made possible by 
a State appropriation of less than $100 each. Many of our new 
schoolhouses are provided with workrooms. The tactful use of a 
small State appropriation would result in the furnishing of these 
rooms with the tools and equipment for simple, practical manual 
training and cooking. The high schools would naturally intro 
duce more advanced work of decided vocational value. The wood 
work shop at Marion, the school dairy at Rome, the Industrial 
School at Charleston, and the Cooking Course at Whitmire, Pros- 
perity, Andrews and many other places in the State are types of 
possible courses to be stimulated by such an appropriation. 

Item 10. High School Training Courses for Elementary 
Teachers: 

The necessity for such courses for the instruction of our rural 
teaching force in school methods and management was presented 
at length in my report of 1911. Less than 20 per cent, of our 
country teachers have attended college, and only a few of this 
number have had normal training. One-third of the States of 
the United States have adopted this method of giving a measure 
of special preparation to the rural teachers; $9,000 per year ex- 
pended in this way will produce a greater increase in the effi- 
ciency of the rural teacher than will $50,000 spent in any other 
way. 

II. I respectfully recommend that the term of the County 
Superintendent of Education in all the counties be fixed at four 
years, and that the term begin in all counties on July 1st. The 
reasons for this suggestion are patent. No County Superintendent 
can in the short space of two years execute any plan for the im- 
provement of the schools. A majority of the counties now have 
the term fixed at four years. 

The term of office should begin at the beginning of the school 
j^ear. The scholastic year closes on June 30th. The outgoing 
Superintendent should make report on his entire official term, and 



22 

his successor should have the summer months in which to famil- 
iarize himself with his office duties, so that he may begin his field 
work as soon as the schools open in the fall. The term now begins 
in July in all but 18 counties. The sensible plan should be made 
universal. 

III. Allow me once more to urge the passage of a law which 
will make the district board of trustees a continuing body. At 
present the trustees are appointed by the County Board of Educa- 
tion for a term of two years, and all are appointed at the same 
time, the terms expiring on June 30th of odd years. We have 
also a very proper law which forbids a board to make a contract 
which shall extend beyond its term of office. The resulting con- 
dition is opposed to the best interests of the country school. When 
the school term closes in April the Board should be able at once 
to re-elect the teacher for another year. On odd years they can 
not now legally hold this election before July 15th, and the long 
period of uncertainty is a material cause of the shifting of teach- 
ers, which is the greatest curse of the country school. The law 
should provide for the appointment of one trustee each year to 
serve for a term of three years. This would give us a continuing 
board competent to act at any time. 

IV. In my opinion the law should be amended so as to make it 
the duty of the County Board of Education to fix or approve the 
location of all new schoolhouses. Those of us who are acquainted 
with the facts know that the location of a schoolhouse can start 
more kinds of trouble than any other question which can be pro- 
posed in a coimtry school district. The writer knows a com- 
munity which is hopelessly deadlocked educationally on the ques- 
tion as to whether a schoolhouse shall be placed on the right or 
the left of a certain pine tree. Sometimes a selfish trustee will 
locate the house on an inconvenient site near his oAvn home, or 
a conscientious trustee will be embarrassed by the correct location 
of a house because it happens to be more convenient to him than 
';o some other patrons. The County Board is charged with the 
luty of dividing the county into suitable districts; it is just as im- . 
portant that this same board locate the school. 

V. Allow me also to recommend the passage of a law author- 
izing and requiring the school boards to take each year a census 
of the children of school age in their respective districts. South 
Carolina is now the only State in the United States which does 
not take such a census. The first step toward getting the children 



23 

in school is to find out who they are and where they are. There 
are now thousands of children in South Carolina growing up in 
ignorance simply because the school authorities have not discov- 
ered their existence. The school census will form a necessary 
part in the compulsory attendance law which, I trust, may soon 
adorn our statutes, but we need the school census whether or not 
the more comprehensive law is passed. 

IV. 

A SUGGESTED ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE AND 
COUNTY DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION FOR 
THE BETTER ADMINISTRATION AND SU- 
PERVISION OF THE RURAL SCHOOLS. 

There are two responsibilities resting on every man who occu- 
pies an official educational position. In the first place, he should 
try to meet the immediate demands of the hour by working 
whole-heartedly with the organization and conditions as he finds 
them. In the second place, he should endeavor from his experi- 
ence and observations to assist in the formulation of a policy of 
development which will be more conducive to the stability, 
growth, and efficiency of the public school system. The following 
outline of organization is respectfully presented for the criticism 
of the friends of education. The limits of this report will not 
allow the amplification of the topics. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

1. A State common school system should be democratic. It 
should be responsive to the deliberately expressed will of the peo- 
ple. 

2. Since the administration and supervision of a school system 
require certain abilities and training, the law should give the 
people a reliable method of selecting their school officials. They 
should not be limited in their choice to men who seek positions, 
but through their authorized agents should be allowed the privi- 
lege of seeking the man who will perform the duties of his office 
most efficiently. 

3. Since the education of a child and the development of a 
school are processes which require several years for their comple- 
tion, the school system should possess a stability Avhich would 
enable its officers to make plans which they may hope to execute. 



24 

4. The State, as a whole, should guarantee an educational op- 
portunity to all her children, regardless of the wealth or poverty 
of the particular county or district in which they live. 

I. The State Board of Education. 

The administration of the State common school system should 
be vested in a State Board of Education which should be a con- 
tinuing body. It should, perhaps, be composed of the Governor, 
the Chairman of the Committee on Education in the Senate, the 
Chairman of the Committee on Education in the House as ex- 
oficio members, and six other members to be selected by the Leg- 
islature for terms of six years, the terms of two members expiring 
every second year. 

1. This method of selecting an administrative board has 
been adopted for all the educational activities of the State, 
except the common schools, and in all other cases has proved 
satisfactory. 

2. It prevents a centralization of authority and provides 
for a continuing board which may formulate a progressive 
policy. 

II. The State Superintendent of Education. 

The State Superintendent of Education should be elected by 
the State Board of Education for a term of four years, and his 
salary should be fixed by this Board. 

1. The State Superintendent would thus become the execu- 
tive officer of the State Board of Education just as the col- 
lege president is the executive officer of the college board of 
trustees. 

2. It would remove the State Superintendency of Educa- 
tion one step from the contingencies of partisan politics, and 
would give a stability and continuity of administration not 
possible under our present plan. 

3. The State Board of Education could thus deliberately 
seek for the man best qualified for the office of State Super- 
intendent. At present the people are limited in their choice 
to those who seek the office. 

4. The State Board of Education should be authorized to 
offer a salary to the State Superintendent commensurate with 



25 

the duties and responsibilities of his office as the head of the 
State common school system. Is there any reason why the 
State Superintendent of Education, entrusted with the man- 
agement of the public schools of the State, should receive 
only half the salary paid to a college president, and less than 
that paid to some of our city superintendents? 

III. In addition to an adequate office force, the State Superin- 
tendent should have the following assistants: 

1. A State Inspector of High Schools. 

This officer has alread}' been supplied in South Carolina, 
and in the other Southern States, through the assistance of 
the General Education Board. 

2. A State Swpermsor of Elementary Country Schools. 

This officer has also been made possible in South Carolina 
and a number of other Southern States through the contribu- 
tions of the Peabody Board and the Southern Education 
Board. 

3. A State Supervisor of Negro Schools. 

If the amount of money spent annually for negro ele- 
mentary schools in South Carolina is to be spent intelligently 
and productively, such an officer is necessary. The white 
people of South Carolina have in their hands the administra- 
tion and supervision of the negro common schools. We have 
it in our power to neglect these schools, and allow the money 
spent for their maintenance to be largely wasted, or we may, 
through proper supervision, make them contribute to better 
race relations, and to increased productive power on the part 
of three-fifths of our population. We place in the hands of 
the untrained negro teachers of the State a course of study 
and text books suited to the longer term white schools, and 
we expect these teachers, many of them ignorant, to adapt 
this course and these text books to the needs of an immature 
race, whose best interests demand instruction in agriculture, 
manual training, cooking, sewing, hygiene, and the essentials 
of the elementary school. 



26 

4. A /State Director of Elementary Agricultural Education. 

This officer should direct the Corn Club work of the boys, 
and the school gardening and experimental work. Through 
him the United States Government, Clemson College, and the 
State Department of Education should work jointly for ele- 
mentary agricultural education in the common school. It is 
impossible for any one of these agencies, without the third, 
to achieve the best results. In order to reach the boys, the 
school system is the agency through which the other two 
must work. 

5. A State Director of Homemaking Activities for the Girls. 

In this officer the work of the United States Government, 
Winthrop College, and the State Department of Education 
must be co-ordinated. The other two agencies must work 
through the State and county machinery, the schools and the 
teachers, in order to be effective. 

6. A State Board of Examiners Consisting of Three 
Members. 

This board should prepare all questions for teachers' ex- 
aminations, and should grade all papers and issue thereon 
certificates valid for the whole State. 

a. The Secretary of the Board should keep a roster of 
the qualified teachers of the State, and should constitute a 
non-commercial medium through which County Superin- 
tendents and trustees may secure competent teachers. 

b. One member of the board should serve as school 
building inspector for the inspection of school buildings 
to which the State has contributed. 

c. The third should act as school auditor, and through 
an annual inspection of the County Superintendents' 
books should insure uniform school accounts throughout 
the State. 

These officers should be elected by the State Board of Educa- 
tion. This proposed organization would give us a co-ordination 
of forces and would prevent waste and duplication of effort. 



27 

IV. The County Board of Education. 

The administration of the county school system should be 
vested in a County Board of Education, consisting of three mem- 
bers, one to be elected by the people every two years for a teyn of 
six years. This would give us a continuing Board of Education, 
deriving its powers directly from the people. The present County 
Board is appointed by the State Board of Education. 

V. The County Superintendent of Education. 

The County Superintendent of Education should be elected by 
the County Board of Education for a term of four years. His 
salary should be fixed by the Board. There is no city in South 
Carolina, or in the United States, in which the city superintend- 
ent of schools is elected by popular vote. It will be readily 
granted that such a method would be highly undesirable. How- 
ever, there is no reason for electing a County Superintendent by 
popular vote which would not be equally valid when applied to a 
city superintendent. 

The election by a Board chosen by the people would merely 
give the people a sensible way of finding the best man. At pres- 
ent the choice of the people is limited to those who seek the place. 
The people of a county should have the privilege of hunting for 
the best man. In spite of the appeal to democracy, which is some- 
times raised to justify the present system, our lack of confidence 
in its merits is reflected in the meager salaries which we are will- 
ing to pay to those whom we have chosen. 

VI. Assistants to the County Superintendent. 

No County Superintendent, however efficient, can adequately 
supervise the country schools of a large county. He needs the 
same kind of assistants which the city superintendent now has. 
He should have : 

1. A County Supervising Teacher for Country Schools, 
who will visit the untrained teachers in their school rooms, 
show them how to organize and manage their schools, and 
how to teach the common school branches. These Supervis- 
ing Teachers should have charge of the School Improvement 
Organization as it has been carried on in this State. 



28 

2. A County JSupervisor of Negro Schools. As stated 
above, the negro schools of South Carolina are, most of them, 
absolutely without supervision of any kind. We are not even 
able to check up in any way the enrollment of the schools, 
Although the equitable distribution of the 3-mill tax depends 
on the correctness of this enrollment. Through the assistance 
of the Jeanes Fund negro supervisors of industrial and agri- 
cultural work have been employed by several of the County 
Superintendents. This work should be extended to all the 
counties. 

3. A County Director of Elementary Agricultural Work. 

This position will correspond to that of the organizer of the 
Boys' Corn Club. The County Superintendents and County 
Demonstration Agents will, no doubt, agree that the boys' 
work demands all the time of one man. This officer would 
work under the direction of the County Superintendent of 
Education and the State Director of Elementary Agricul- 
tural Education. 

4. A County Director of the Girls' Canning Club and 
Home Arts. 

The desirability of this officer has already been proved in 
South Carolina. In order for her to do her best work she 
must be directly related to the county school system, which 
possesses the only organization capable of giving authority 
• and continuity to her work. She would co-ordinate the 
county work of the United States Government and Winthrop 
College directed toward practical homemaking. 

VII. The District Board of Trustees. 

The district board of trustees should also be a continuing body 
composed of three members, one of whom should be chosen each 
year for a term of three years. This board of trustees should be 
the local advisory committee of the County Superintendent and 
County Board of Education. They should hold an annual meet- 
ing of the school patrons and voters of the district, at which a 
report should be made of the receipts and expenditures of the 
year. They should also present their recommendations and the 
financial budget for the new year. The last item of business at 



29 

the annual school meeting should be the election of the trustee. 
If a district fails to avail itself of the privilege of electing a trus- 
tee, the County Board of Education should fill the vacancy. 

VIII. School Support. 

The money for the support of the schools should come from 
three sources — the State, the county, and the district. At present 
there are glaring disparities in the per capita of school revenue 
in the various districts of the State arising from the unequal 
distribution of wealth, the unequal race distribution, and espe- 
cially from the presence or absence in the district of railroads, 
power plants, or other public utilities. 

1. In my opinion it is highly desirable that we have a State 
appropriation or a State tax sufficient to guarantee a school term 
of three months in every school district. 

2. There should be in each county a county tax sufficient to 
provide for three more months. 

3. There should be a special district tax sufficient to provide 
for the school building and incidental expenses, and secure the 
additional school term desired by the district. Part of the State 
appropriation should be used to encourage the local district to 
help itself by voting a special tax. 

At present one of the most glaring disparities in district rev- 
enues arises from the fact that a school district has the right to 
impose a special tax on public utilities situated within its borders. 
There are many districts in South Carolina in which the railroad 
pays half of the total school tax. It is comparatively easy for such 
a district to maintain a school, while an adjoining district, which 
the railroad does not touch, is placed at a great disadvantage. 
For this reason many school districts in the State have been 
gerrymandered so as to take in the greatest possible railroad 
mileage. A district which is blessed with a large railroad mileage 
running through a swamp where nobody can live has sometimes 
considered itself exceptionally blessed. A minute's thought will 
convince one that a railroad, a power plant, a telegraph line, a 
telephone line, or any other form of public utility should not be 
considered an object of exclusive taxation by the school district 
through which it passes. On the other hand, it should be an asset 
of the entire territory which it serves, and from which it obtains 
its revenues. In practice the present condition works disastrously 
both for the general public and for the public utility. The more 



30 

abundant revenue and- the better school facilities which are made 
possible for the towns on the railroad have a tendency to attract 
the people from the surrounding farms, and consequently to de- 
crease farm productivity and the earning power of the railroad 
which pays the taxes. The only solution which occurs to me is to 
segregate the property belonging to the railroads, power plants, 
telegraph lines, telephone lines, and other public utilities, and to 
levy on all this property a State tax which will provide for the 
expenses of the State government, including the State school 
taxes already mentioned. These forms of property should then 
be exempt from local taxes. This, however, is a phase of the 
whole tax question which now demands the best thought of our 
people. 

IX. The School. 

While it will be many years before the one-teacher school be- 
comes a thing of the past in South Carolina, the inevitable tend- 
ency in the more progressive communities will be in the direction 
of a school employing at least three teachers. Such a school 
affords a better classification of the pupils, stronger social in- 
centives to good school work, and an opportunity to introduce 
special work in agriculture, homemaking, and manual training 
designed to secure a better adaptation of the school to the needs 
of the community. An efficient country school will gradually 
acquire some of the following distinguishing characteristics: 

1. The teacher, or at least the principal, will remain for a 
term of years in the same position. He will be elected for a 
period of at least three years, and the country school will follow 
the lead of our best city systems and adopt a salary schedule un- 
der which the teacher's salary will be increased with increased 
experience and efficiency. 

2. The school term and the vacations will be arranged to meet 
the community necessities. The minimum term will be eight 
months. The teacher will be emploj^ed for the year, and will be 
given a vacation of six weeks. In sections where it is necessary 
for the children to work on the farm the school will have a sum- 
mer term of two months and a winter term of six months, with a 
fall and a spring vacation. When the school itself is not in session 
the teacher will still live in the community, and will have charge 
of the boys' and girls' agricultural and club work. 

3. The school will be a community center. In its auditorium 



31 

the community meetings of fathers, mothers, and young people 
will be held. Its library will expand into the community library. 
The school will utilize the knowledge and experience of the 
whole district in its daily work. 

4. In many cases a teacher's home will be built at the school 
house, and his garden and the school experiment plot will serve 
as the central agency for the dissemination of agricultural knowl- 
edge throughout the community. 

Though the universal attainment of these ideals must be placed 
indefinitely in the future, there are now many schools in South 
Carolina which are steadily approaching them. 
Respectfully submitted, 

W. K. TATE, 
State Supervisor Eural Schools. 



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